Interview: Esteemed Post-Hardcore Vocalist Corrington L. Wheeler Talks New Album, “Seeking Light” Set for January 2017 Release

BearlySinister: Thank you for taking the time out to speak with us. Can you please start by introducing yourself and your role in the band?

Corrington L. Wheeler: My name is Corrington Wheeler, I am the lead vocalist of my band and we create post-hardcore music with masonic and philosophical influence. I was a Meteorologist for 6 years in the United States Air Force and now am a full-time musician.

BearlySinister: The notion of bands being named after band members/a frontperson has always been pretty intriguing to me. Was it always the intention to name the band after yourself or were there other candidates, as well?

CLW: When I started and released our first album “Traveling East”, it was only me. I had contracted Justin Kyle of Jamie’s Elsewhere and Eric Ferraro of Asmara to produce 3 amazing songs, but without a band I could not perform them.

BearlySinister: Can you take us through the journey of the band’s formation and how you got to where you are today?

CLW: After I released the album “Traveling East”, my contract with the military had ended and I moved to Houston, TX to finish getting my bachelor’s degree in Digital Media at the University of Houston. While attending, I found extremely talented musicians one by one and recruited them to play the songs I had created.

BearlySinister: You informed me that your new album will be released on January 14th of next year. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

CLW: The new album is called “Seeking Light” and will have 6 accompanying music videos and guest features from Garret Rapp of The Color Morale, Jeremy of Sycamour, Ryan Tyler of Viridian, Sebastian Elizondo of Darkness Divided, Gabe Tide of Black Tide, & Rory Rodriguez of Dayseeker. It will contain songs that describe each of the lessons I learned while traveling the world, while I was seeking the light of knowledge.

BearlySinister: Who did you work with, when creating this album and what would you say were the biggest challenges while completing it?

CLW: Having such success from “Traveling East”, I decided to work with Eric Ferraro once again, as well as a talented local musician Walter Guzman. We collaborated the instrumentals, then I wrote all the vocals and lyrical content. The biggest challenges would include money and waiting for guest vocalist to send over their stems. Firstly, you can’t play the game without money and I dumped thousands into my content because I want people to have the best quality entertainment; it’s a necessary sacrifice as an independent artist. The second thing was that we completed most of the songs around May of 2016, but sometimes due to inforseen circumstances, things popped up and some of our guest vocalists had to push back expected finish date for a few songs. That’s life though and in the music industry, things rarely go according to schedule, so it didn’t really bother me and I kind’ve expected it.

BearlySinister: What were your biggest strengths, going into the writing process, that you knew would fare well for the album?

CLW: My biggest strengths are my dedication to melody writing, lyrical content comes easy for me, so I always tent to focus on improving melodic runs more. I’ll deprive myself of music for several days, start over if I accidentally hear music through my surrounding environment, so I’m not musically contaminated. Then when I get into the studio, I’ll jam out to 3 specific artists that I want to influence a specific song until that song is finished. This is what works for me and I’m pretty happy with my processes.

BearlySinister: What is your favorite song on the album and the story behind it, if you wouldn’t mind indulging our readers?

CLW: My favorite song on “Traveling East” is probably our acoustic song Skorkas Witchery, being a deeply personal song to me. I grew up in an old farm house I believe to be very haunted and not by a ghost, way out in the country. My parents didn’t believe me for years, just told me to grow up. Things would move by themselves, things defy physics and fly off shelves, doors open and close, and many more hair raising stories. Eventually I learned how to at least reduce the intensity of the situations through Esoteric practice and Kabbalah, but at the time I was still very young and almost made things worse at one point. The song, featuring Maico, is about my innocence as a child and trying to reason with the invisible forces that go bump in the night, then the demon speaks to me in the middle of the song, and finishes out with thoughts in my head. Many people don’t believe in such things but I can assure you that if you go swimming in shark infested waters, even if you don’t believe in sharks while treading water, the sharks believe in you. I now practice Angelic magic and help those in need, those who require protection, those who require an open ear because no one will believe the horror they experience.

BearlySinister: Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music?

CLW: I want to show our listeners that the world is a huge place full of concepts, ideas, and theories that they’ve probably never even considered. I wish to present abstract thoughts, philosophy, esoteric works, sociology, and moral lessons through the music, surrealism artwork, and interesting reading material on my website so people can expand their minds and question the constructs they call reality. Many critics claim I’m the Lil’ Wayne of the Post-Hardcore industry because I’m flashy with exotic cars, expensive clothing, and world travels. Good, I’m glad because I want to become the catalyst in people’s lives and show them what they can achieve, to spark a fire. I’ve had a fan tell me after a show that they loved the cars we flaunt and lifestyle we display so much, that they decided to start their own business and finally got it off the ground successfully. That is the greatest feeling for me, why I write the way I do. I don’t want to spread a positive message necessarily, just MY message.

BearlySinister: Being a musician out of a city as large as Houston, surely you’ve had some pitfalls throughout your career. What do you think contributes to the band’s success and how does that reflect on the music scene in that area?

CLW: I honestly think that getting off the ground was the hardest part, finding my sound, figuring out what my niche was, jumping from band to band unsuccessfully as I traveled the world in the military. Now that I’m holding still long enough to call somewhere home, it’s honestly been nothing but the fast-track to fame. Sure we have some growing pains within our group since all the members are new, but we’re continuously getting stronger.

BearlySinister: Who is your favorite band(s), both national and local, that you’ve had the pleasure of sharing the stage with over the years?

CLW: My favorite bands that I’ve shared a stage include Lacey Sturm of Flyleaf, Alien Ant Farm, & Bobaflex. All great acts and truly entertaining. My favorite local band is actually our brother band “Viridian” out’ve Lake Charles, Louisiana. They’re here in Houston almost every few weeks knocking out shows with us. Great dudes, great passion, and great music; they’re like family to me.

BearlySinister: As we’re through the majority of 2016, let’s learn a bit about your music taste… this will be a 3 part question.

A) What type of music do you listen to daily?

CLW: I normally listen to a mix of artists ranging in genres on my phone. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of DJ Pon3, Jo Dee Messina, Dance Gavin Dance, Chris Brown, and Deaf Havana. I hit shuffle, then hit the road.

B) What has been your favorite release of 2016, so far?

CLW: Dance Gavin Dance’s new album “Mothership” by far, amazing in every aspect. Can’t think of a single negative thing about any of their songs on the album, it’s truly inspirational both vocally and instrumentally.

C) What band are you most looking forward to releasing an album in the coming months? Avenged Sevenfold, Metallica, Twiztid, Black Top Mojo all come to mind for me, personally!

CLW: I’ve been hoping that Jason Derulo will release a new album and begin touring in 2017, to be honest.

BearlySinister: If you had a chance to headline a festival with no budget or genre restrictions, tell me who you would put on the package (up to 15 bands, no less than 5… if possible) and why? (These responses are always fun!)

CLW: Wow, that certainly IS a fun question! I’d have to say if we were headlining, the other bands would include Pierce The Veil, Hands Like Houses, Issues, Crown The Empire, A Day To Remember, Before Their Eyes, Deaf Havana, Don Broco, Chiodos, Dance Gavin Dance, Sleeping With Sirens, Memphis May Fire, Search The City, Motion City Soundtrack, and 1 local independent artist.

BearlySinister: Leading up to the release of your new album, what type of promotional plans do you have in store? Singles? Music videos? Contests? You don’t have to spill any surprises, just kinda give us a peek into what’s on the horizon.

CLW: We’ve already done both a singing and art competition on our Instagram page that went very well! We recently released a single off the new album called “Tragedy of Leusden (ft. Garret Rapp of The Color Morale)” and also an accompanying lyric video. We will likely continue handing out free cd’s at every music festival in Houston, guest appear on Youtube channels and podcast, and FB boost hundreds of dollars away.

BearlySinister: Thank you for taking the time to do this for us and we appreciate your support. Before we wrap this up, is there anything else you’d like to say to your readers, our fans and the public?

CLW: Thank you so much for having me, this was such an amazing opportunity and I appreciate it! For those reading, go to our website for FREE music downloads, music videos, merch, the philosophies behind the songs, and get to know us a bit better!

Seeking Light (Album Preview)